Amorphous metal materials have good electromagnetic and mechanical characteristics and studies have been conducted to commercialize various types of amorphous materials. Iron-base amorphous metals in the form of fine wires having a circular cross section are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 165016/1981 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,626. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 213857/1983 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,401) describes an iron-base amorphous alloy having improved fatigue characteristics, and Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 106949/1985 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,034) proposes an iron-base amorphous alloy that is improved in both fatigue characteristics and toughness. The last-mentioned amorphous alloy is so much improved in cold workability that a number of wires of such an alloy can be twisted together to form a strand.
Iron-base amorphous alloys having improved corrosion resistance are described in Japanese Patent Application (OPI) Nos. 193248/1984 and 13056/1984 but no proposal has been made respecting fine wires of amorphous metals having improved corrosion resistance and toughness.
Fine amorphous metal wires are frequently used after being subjected to various types of working such as drawing to a suitable diameter, or the twisting, weaving or knitting of drawn or undrawn wires. For successful working, fine wires of amorphous metal must have not only good fatigue characteristics or corrosion resistance but also high toughness. Fine metal wires having poor toughness will break during working operations. When conventional fine metal wires are drawn through a diamond die, the number of breaks that occurs is from a few to as many as several tens per initial length of 2,000 m. Not only does this result in a short drawn wire of low commercial value, but also the efficiency of the drawing operation is reduced. The same incidence of wire breakage also occurs during working under stress such as twisting, weaving or knitting.